The present invention relates to an operating system in which documents are stored in a chronologically ordered xe2x80x9cstreamxe2x80x9d. In other words, that is, as each document is presented to the operating system, the document is placed according to a time indicator in the sequence of documents already stored relative to the time indicators of the stored documents.
Within this application several publications are referenced by arabic numerals within parentheses. Full citations for these and other references may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of all of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
Conventional operating systems frequently confuse inexperienced users because conventional operating systems are not well suited to the needs of most users. For example, conventional operating systems utilize separate applications which require file and format translations. In addition, conventional operating systems require the user to invent pointless names for files and to construct organizational hierarchies that quickly become obsolete. Named files are an invention of the 1950""s and the hierarchical directories are an invention of 1960""s.
Some conventional operating systems employ a xe2x80x9cdesktop metaphorxe2x80x9d which attempts to simplify common file operations by presenting the operations in the familiar language of the paper-based world, that is, paper documents as files, folders as directories, a trashcan for deletion, etc. Also, the paper-based model is a rather poor basis for organizing information where the state of the art is still a messy desktop and where one""s choices in creating new information paradigms is constrained [1].
Thus, conventional operating systems suffer from at least the following disadvantages: (1) a file must be xe2x80x9cnamedxe2x80x9d when created and often a location in which to store the file must be indicated resulting in unneeded overhead; (2) users are required to store new information in fixed categories, that is directories or subdirectories, which are often an inadequate organizing device; (3) archiving is not automatic; (4) little support for xe2x80x9cremindingxe2x80x9d functions are provided; (5) accessibility and compatibility across data platforms is not provided and (6) the historical context of a document is lost because no tracking of where, why and how a document evolves is performed.
xe2x80x9cNamingxe2x80x9d a file when created and choosing a location in which to place the file is unneeded overhead: when a person grabs a piece of paper and starts writing, no one demands that a name be bestowed on the sheet or that a storage location be found. Online, many filenames are not only pointless but useless for retrieval purposes. Storage locations are effective only as long as the user remembers them.
Data archiving is an area where conventional electronic systems perform poorly compared to paper-based systems. Paper-based systems are first and foremost archiving systems, yet data archiving is difficult in conventional desktop systems. Often, users throw out old data rather than undertaking the task of archiving and remembering how to get the data back. If archiving and retrieval of documents is convenient, old information could be reused more often.
Reminding is a critical function of computer-based systems [2] [3], yet current systems supply little or no support for this function. Users are forced either to use location on their graphical desktops as reminding cues or to use add-on applications such as calendar managers.
A solution to these disadvantages is to use a document stream operating system. One such system is outlined in a 1994 article [4]. However, this article fails to address many of the disadvantages of conventional operating systems.
One object of the present invention is to provide a document stream operating system and method which solves many, if not all, of the disadvantages of conventional operating systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a document stream operating system in which documents are stored in one or more chronologically ordered streams.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an operating system in which the location and nature of file storage is transparent to the user, for example, the storage of the files is handled automatically and file names are only used if a user chooses to invent such names.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an operating system which takes advantage of the nature of electronic documents. For example, a conventional paper document can only be accessed in one place, but electronic documents can be accessed from multiple locations.
Another object of the present invention is to organize information as needed instead of at the time the document is created. For example, streams may be created on demand and documents may belong to as many streams as seems reasonable or to none.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an operating system in which archiving is automatic.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an operating system with sophisticated logic for summarizing or compressing a large group of related documents when the user wants a concise overview. In addition, this summarizing can include pictures, sounds and/or animations. Also, no matter how many documents fall into a given category, the operating system is capable of presenting an overview in a form so that all the documents are accessible from a single screen.
Also, an object of the present operating system is to make xe2x80x9cremindingxe2x80x9d convenient.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an operating system in which personal data is widely accessible anywhere and compatibility across platforms is automatic. Accordingly, this invention provides that computers using the operating system of the present invention need not be independent data storage devices, but also act as xe2x80x9cviewpointsxe2x80x9d to data stored and maintained on external systems such as the INTERNET. Thus, in accordance with the present invention users can access their personal document streams from any available platform such as a UNIX machine, a Macintosh or IBM-compatible personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a set-top box via cable.
According to one embodiment of the invention a computer program for organizing one or more data units is provided. The computer program includes: (1) means for receiving one or more of the data units, each of which is associated with one or more chronological indicators; and (2) means for linking each of the data units according to the chronological indicators to generate one or more streams of data units. Other embodiments of the invention also provide: (1) chronological indicators including past, present, and future times; and (2) means for displaying the streams, wherein respective indicia representing the data units are displayed and each data unit includes textual data, video data, audio data and/or multimedia data. The means for displaying the streams may further include displaying selected segments of the streams corresponding to selected intervals of time. The means for receiving may further include means for receiving data units from the Word Wide Web or from a client computer.
According to another embodiment of the invention, a method of organizing one or more data units is provided including the steps of: (1) receiving one or more data units, each of which is associated with one or more chronological indicators; and (2) linking each of the data units according to the chronological indicators to generate one or more streams of data units. In other embodiments, the chronological indicators may include past, present, and future times. The method may further include the steps of: (1) displaying the streams, wherein respective indicia represent each data unit and each of the data units may be textual data, video data, audio data and/or multimedia data. The step of displaying the streams may further include the steps of: (1) receiving from a user one or more values indicative of one or more selected segments of the streams corresponding to selected intervals of time; and (2) displaying the segments of the streams corresponding to the selected intervals of time.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description accompanying the claims and the attached figures.